Previously unpublished letters from Albert Einstein to a Japanese pen pal show the physicist to be defensive over the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which became possible through his genius.

Bulldozers are putting the finishing touches to the garden of a modest summerhouse used by Albert Einstein as a summer retreat, before it and the house are opened to the public next month for the rest of this year.

In 1947 Zionist leaders asked Albert Einstein to work a miracle and persuade a sceptical India to support the birth of a Jewish state. His fascinating correspondence with Jawaharlal Nehru has recently surfaced in Israeli archives. Benny Morris analyses their exchange.

As well as devising the theory of relativity, it has emerged that Albert Einstein was also responsible for a less celebrated discovery - a fridge. Nearly 80 years after he invented it, a group of German physicists have begun making Einstein's unique alcohol-powered fridge.

It is intended to enlighten, to inspire and to raise public awareness of physics. But mainly to enlighten, and there the problems begin. On April 18 next year, scientists plan to create a global sweep of light to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of Albert Einstein.